Brandon League and a Prospect sent to the Mariners for Brandon Morrow

According to a number of sources the Jays will be sending the enigmatic Brandon League and a prospect (details to come) to the Seattle Mariners for fireballer Brandon Morrow.

So far this looks like a good trade for the Jays (depending on who the prospect is). League wasn't amounting to much in Toronto, and will probably not mount to much in Seattle. Morrow on the other hand is a year younger, has tons of upside, and is controllable for longer.

My sources tell me that the Jays may consider moving Morrow back into a starters role.

** It's nice to have a GM that other GM's will actually work with.

Halladay Traded to the Phillies - FINAL

Well it's happened. The good Doctor will be leaving Toronto. Halladay will be sent to Philly as part of a four team blockbuster. The other teams involved are Seattle and Oakland.

Coming to Toronto are highly touted prospects;

Kyle Drabek:

Drabek is the center-piece of the package for the Jays. He is known to have plus fasetball, and the makings of a good changeup. He is also known as a fierce competitor.

Travis d’Arnaud:

Travis is said to have a great makeup and good tools. He is seen by most pundits as a future starting major league catcher.

Brett Wallace:

Wallace is known to be a "special hitter" and a "student of the game." AA sees him playing first base for the Jays in the near future.

Thanks for everything, Roy. You were a treat to watch, and you truly are a great human being.

It would have been awesome to see you win as a Blue Jay, but I understand the current clubs situation and the fact that you want to win now. Perhaps if your still around in four years a return to Toronto could be in the cards?

However, thanks for all the great memories, and good luck in Philly!

Jays Sign Chavez to a Minor League Contract. Bring in John Buck too..

Well this is somewhat interesting. The Jays now have no catchers on the current Major League Roster. Something must be in the works. I have heard the names of Doumit and Mike Napoli.

I wouldn't mind seeing Napoli in a Jays uniform. That man has some serious power.

UPDATE: Unfortunately it turned out to be not that interesting afterall. Chavez was resigned to a minor league contract. The Jays have also signed former Royals catcher John Buck to a one year deal.
Oh well... another position of weakness for the Jays.

Looking Forward to 2010

What are people's thoughts about 2010?

Does anyone buy JP's and Beeston's promise of contending? We have to remember that the Yanks, Boston, and Tampa Bay will not be worse next season. Odds are that Boston will actually try to improve considering just how good the Yanks will be over the next few seasons. The Rays players are still young enough to keep them all on that team. So do we really have a chance to compete in 2010? Can we pass at least 2 of those 3 teams next season?

It looks like right now we have following team going into next season (either signed or ARB);
1B -- Overbay $7.95 million
2B -- Hill $4 million
SS -- ???
3B -- Edwin E $4 million
C -- ???
CF -- Wells $16.143 million
LF -- Lind
RF -- Snider
DH -- Ruiz

SP -- Halladay $15.75 million
SP -- Marcum
SP -- Romero
SP -- McGowan/Litsch/Richmond/Purcey/Cecil/Zep

RP -- Downs $4 million
RP -- League
RP -- Camp
RP -- Tallet
RP -- Janssen
RP -- Frasor
RP -- Roenicke/Wolfe/Accardo
** BJ Ryan $12 million

My figures are not 100% accurate because I am unclear on how much the Jays are paying Rolen next season, but it looks like we have approx. $64 million in locked up salary for next season. We will obviously need to sign our ARB available players as well. We also need to sign a shortstop and a catcher just to feild a full team. We have some options in the minors for both positions, but none of those players look anywhere ready to make the jump. We have some tradeable pitching assests in my opinion.Will we compete next season? I say no unless we upgrade C/3B, and sign a decent SS (perhaps Scutaro). A true number 2 starter would be nice too.I guess we won't know what the direction the club is taking until the offseason, but either way it's tough to compete in this divsion no matter how you look at it.

Scutaro is an interesting case. He will be 34 years old going into next season and only has one good year under his belt. He is in line for a HUGE raise. If the Jays are planning on contending next season then maybe your offer him a 2 or 3 year deal. I don't really like signing players into there late 30's, so I would perfer a 2 year deal.

I actually think the Jays have stuck gold with Randy Ruiz at the DH spot...

Next year will be something.

Alex Rios Gone - Direction?

Sorry for the lack of posts -- I have been on "vacation" the last week or so... and what a week it was in Jays land.

Obviously first and foremost the Jays dumped the chosen one by sending Alex Rios to the White Sox for a ball of bags (actually less then that!). Perhaps JP and the rest of the Jays upper management have been reading my blog. Is this an indicator that the Jays may actually be looking to rebuild properly? I am likely just dreaming, eh? This more realistically means that Jays ownership is trying to restructure payroll (aka - lowering it) moving forward.

I haven't given up all hope in Rogers Corp. quite yet. I mean they have increased payroll in the past, and have previously allowed JP to go out and buy players. I guess only time will tell.

For what it's worth Rios has gone 3 for 15 with an error since joining the White Sox. Personally I was never huge fan of Rios, so I will go on record and say I agree with this move. In my opinion his career .785OPS is not worth $60 million. Also rumour has it that some Jays players are starting to speak out and implying that Rios doesn't put in 100% effort day in and day out.

Secondly every-ones favorite cowboy Kevin Millar has decided to back to his old number 15. Rios was wearing that number...

Go Jays.

Time for a new direction... or a direction... or something that isn't annoying

Time to get negative.... or "confused" may be better word.

Although I didn't watch the entire game last night, I for some reason still decided to look at my blackberry every 10 minutes for game updates. Each time I looked I got more and more pissed off. I hate our lineup so much it is actually getting hard for me to justify why the Jays should peak my interest more then a outlet with nothing plugged into it.

Look I understand Cito has no ability to adapt (make change) and JP is desperately trying to look like he kinda knows what he is doing, but why in the hell is Kevin Millar receiving so many at-bats? Look, Millar's a good clubhouse and dugout guy, but let's get serious here, at this point in his career that's where he should be at ALL times. He has become a left hander masher who can't hit lefties anymore. Why Cito, didn't you pinch hit Overbay for him in the 8th inning? Why Cito, is he hitting 4th in the lineup? Why Cito, is he in the lineup in the first place??? Like what the F...

I just don't understand where this team is going anymore, and I think the Kevin Millar situation is a perfect microcosm of how this has no plan, no direction, and no hope in hell for improvement in the short to mid-term future. People tell me were going to complete in 2010, but how? Are Marcum and Litsch all off a sudden going to make us better then 2 of Tampa, New York, and Boston? Is Snider going to be the trump card agains the superstars our main rivals field? Come on...

Ok, I know this team was supposed to suck, but I was not expecting them to be the 3rd worst team in the majors since May 19th even though 3 guys in our starting lineup are having career years. Ok, I admit I didn't expect Wells and Rios to all of a sudden be mediocre at best baseball players, but wouldn't this ultimately give us a chance to figure out what the plan should be moving forward? Yet, instead, outside of a demanded trade, we decided to maintain the status quo at the trade deadline, and to piss fans off even more start to give the wrong players more playing time. Why doesn't Bautista play more then Millar? At least he makes contact sometimes, and has a killer arm? But no, let's go with what used to work 7 years ago(surrounded by superstars) just because he is a vet.

What the hell is going on here? What is the direction of this team? Are we going with the same group of guys who always finish 3rd and 4th in the division? Are we increasing payroll, or are we going to rebuild properly?

Something needs to happen and fast. 15 years is not a short time period.

The thing that really pisses me off is that I used to be able to answer questions about the Blue Jays, but know I have no f%^%&* clue whatsoever what is going on with this team.

Scott Rolen dealt to the Reds for Encarnacion and Two Prospects

Rolen will be missed. He was having a very solid season. However, Alonso included or not this is a good trade for the Jays. The Jays were not going to compete while Rolen was under contract with them, so it made sense to try to move him. The bonus is that we got a major leaguer and two solid prospects.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090731&content_id=6169044&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor

"The Blue Jays dealt third baseman Scott Rolen to the Reds at Friday's non-waiver Trade Deadline, receiving third baseman Edwin Encarnacion, right-handed reliever Josh Roenicke and Minor League righty Zach Stewart in exchange for the veteran. Rolen waived his no-trade clause in order to approve the deal."

In other news - The Toronto Mammoth Burger has filed for bankruptcy

Just over 24 hours left to go and all is quiet in Jays land - Status Quo Moving forward?

Well folks here we are - Just over 24 hours until the trade deadline.

The Jays are currently 4 games under .500 and have played a wicked awesome 17 games under .500 since their hot start. Maybe I am straying away from my own advice and not thinking rationally right now, but I am getting a little nervous that upper management might think that this is the team we should have moving forward.

In other words, is the Jays brass considering remaining status quo?

Can they really believe that staying with the same team that finished 4th last year, will finish 4th again this year, and likely 4th again next year is the right thing to do? I sure hope not.

We have so many moveable pieces right now, led by of course Roy Halladay. If done properly we can expedite a true rebuild if we move some (if not most) of the players we have on the current Major League team. I already listed the group that can be moved, but as we get closer to the deadline I am really starting to get worried.

I expected some moves by now. What is going on here?

Time for a TRUE re-build

We will NOT compete with this core. We haven't even been a top 3 team in the East with this core going on two years now.

Upper management has resisted a true re-build for a good 15 seasons. We currently have some chips that could speed up the TRUE rebuilding process from 6 or 7 years to only 3 or 4.

The following players should all be shopped:

Halladay (he is the key player who will speed up the re-build), Rolen, Scutaro, Millar, Overbay, Wells (tough to trade obviously), Barajas, Downs, Camp, Frasor, Tallet, Bautista, Inglett, League, Richmond, and McDonald.

Of the players who have seen major league baseball this season on the Jays I would only hang onto Lind, Hill, Marcum, Rios (yes Rios), Snider, Litsch, Rze, Romero, and Cecil.

The time is now. There is a real chance to fix this team in just 3 or 4 years. But we need a TRUE re-build. A re-build that has a low team payroll and a team that isn't mediocre, but truly does suck. Enough with these 80-88 win 3rd and 4th place finishes!

**I just hate the JP is the man to do this.

Halladay trade deadline date set by Riccardi

I don't normally paste links to websites, but for this I will.

If you ask me, Halladay is not going to be traded this year.

“If you ask me today if we’re going to trade Roy Halladay, I’d say no,” Ricciardi, the Toronto Blue Jays’ general manager, said Tuesday morning. “Something could happen between now and the trade deadline, but this isn’t something that’s suddenly going to happen with someone on the 30th.

”While the non-waiver trading deadline is July 31, Ricciardi said that the Jays would most likely enforce an internal deadline of July 28 to make a deal. Since Ricciardi said the Jays “have to be knocked off our feet” to trade Halladay, he said trade talks with prospective suitors will need to have accelerated several days before the deadline. An 11th-hour deal sounds unlikely.

“There are too many pieces that have to be in play with this,” Ricciardi said.Ricciardi noted that Halladay is scheduled to start on July 29 and added that he did not want Halladay to have to make that start with the possibility of a trade still lingering over the pitcher. By then, Ricciardi hopes that the Jays have traded Halladay for a pile of prospects or have decided to keep him.

source : http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/plenty-of-suitors-for-halladay-but-deal-remains-elusive/

After 81 Games - Mid Season Thoughts

We were told by upper management that this was going top be a long season. We were told by upper management that we were going to suck. We were told by upper management to be patient.

Well here we are - halfway done the season and own a winning record, who would have thought that eh?

How have we been doing this? I am confused myself. Our can't miss rookie was sent to the minors in May. Our entire starting rotation has been on the DL or sent to the minors at one point this season. We have had two pitchers that we're drafted in 2007 make starts. Our elite closer hasn't been able to through a fastball over 88mph, and his replacement went down with a foot injury. Our two projected main offensive threats have been complete busts this season. Attendance is down about 6%, but SOMEHOW we have a winning record at the midway point. Baseball is a great game.

It is pretty simple to see that Scutaro, Lind, Hill, Rolen, Halladay, and Romero have carried this team on their collective backs. With special thanks to Frasor, Downs (before his injury), and Richmond.

The combo of Scutaro and Hill have been more then solid all season long. Hill has always been a potential guy, but has dropped that tag with his tremendous offensive first half. Scutaro, who has always been a part-time player has become one of the best shortstops in the entire majors. Nothing short of a major surprise there.

Rolen has adjusted his game to the point where you are shocked when he hits a homerun. However his .330ish batting average and near .900OPS more then balances out his diminished power. I am extremely happy with Scott this year (understatement).

Doc has been Doc.

Adam Lind in my opinion has been our best and most consistent hitter all season. He is the only hitter who hasn't gone through a prolonged slump, and is showing no signs of slowing down.

We have arguablely been a 5 or 6 player team all season long, but nonetheless have shutup the critics for the time being. Did we do it with smoke and mirrors? Perhaps, considering we have played 13 games under .500 since the hot start, but let's all be happy here. It was nothing but negative propaganda spewed out by our team management at the start off the season. The positives moving forward far out-weigh the negatives.

Rationalism Is An Interesting Concept

The Jays have now played 65 games this season, and have complied a 34-31 record. Sure it doesn't compute to the same success they were having just 3 weeks ago, but it still goes against what the majority of fans, bloggers, and professional writers expectations were for this team at the start of the season.

Heck even the GM and team President basically told us that the team was going to suck, so when you think about it, this current stretch of bad play should come as no surprise. Keeping in mind starting expectations, the state of the starting rotation, the downfall of our closer, the "failure" of our projected top hitting prospect, and god-awful hitting from our highest paid player we're not doing all that bad.

If Roy Halladay does miss some time due to injury our entire rotation from last year would be either hurt or off the team completely (Halladay, Burnett, Marcum, McGowan, Litsch). That is basically unheard of in professional baseball, which makes this 34-31 record even more remarkable.

We also have to keep in mind, as much as I hate to admit this, we play in a division where you MUST be an elite team and compile an elite record in order to properly compete. The Jays have a good thing happening here. We basically just by accident ran into depth in the starting rotation, and are starting to see the coming of age of players like Hill and Lind. Let's continue to move forward.

With that said, let's remain rational here. This team was not projected to compete this season, so this start should be seen as a welcomed surprised to everyone who follows this team.

Rios Goes Off On A Fan

The biggest problem with Rios' reaction is the fact that he said "Who gives a F$%^," basically implying that he only plays for his paycheck. I don't mind him yelling back at fan, but his choice of words is very alarming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt9hRCthV8E

Staying Focused

So we have hit our first real bump of the season, losing the last 6 in a row. Let's stay focused and continue to move forward. No one (including me) predicted that the Jays would be in second place, only .5 games out of first come May 25th. If someone had told me at the start of the season this is where we would be come this time I would have gladly accepted while walking away calling that individual a fool underneath my breath.

Considering we have had a make-shift starting pitching rotation (outside of Halladay) all season, we are in pretty good position moving forward. If Rios and Wells would actually do something we will continue to compete.

Romero is scheduled to make his first appearance back in the rotation, while the Internet legend of Casey Janssen returned throwing 6 solid innings the other week.

Things are still ok in Jays land. No need to panic quite yet.

Janssen should be ready to come back soon....

This is good news considering what we are currently fielding at the moment, but I want Jays fans to be clear on Casey Janssen.

Janssen probably has the least amount of raw talent of all the Jays injured pitchers.
Purcey, Marcum, McGowan, Litsch, and even Romero are all ahead of Janssen on the depth chart. I do agree that Janssen is an upgrade on some of the pitchers in current starting 5, but I believe fans are being mis-informed when it comes to his actual talent.

IF everyone was healthy and based on actual talent (and Purcey could throw strikes) the rotation would be:

Halladay
Marcum
McGowan
Litsch
Purcey

Followed by:

Romero
Cecil
Janssen
Richmond

Janssen only has 17 major league starts and has been much more effective coming from the pen. I think fans need to understand although he is upgrade on what we currently have, he is still quite low on our depth chart

AJ vs. Doc - May 12th - Rogers Centre

Hopefully we have a good turnout of this game. It should be a good one. I have to admit, I am one of the folks that wants to see Burnett get lit up by the streaking Jays offence.

Sure it's only May 11th, but from a standings point of view this has been the best season in a long time in Jays land. Let's get some fans out to support the team! The Jays home attendence is currently ranked 26th in the majors, hovering just over 20,000 per game. Call me crazy, but I really think the campaign to lower fan expectations in the offseason by management is very much to blame here.

Where are all those fans that came out to game 1 and threw crap on the field now?

Final April Offensive Stats!! - Not Too Shabby

Final April stats:
Starters:Name/Batting Average/OBP/OPS
Marco Scutaro/.281/.421/.927
Aaron Hill/.365/.412/.979
Alex Rios/.248/.304/.670
Vernon Wells/.283/.345/.810
Adam Lind/.315/.400/.933
Scott Rolen/.317/.367/.794
Lyle Overbay/.250/.403/.903
Rod Barajas/.299/.333/.826
Travis Snider/.258/.324/.808

Bench
Jose Bautista/.317/.404/.867
Kevin Millar/.343/.395/.909
Jon Macdonald/.111/.111/.222
Michael Barrett/.167/.211/.544
Raul Chavez/.273/.273/.549

My Thoughts:
- Aaron Hill had an elite month (at any position)
- Lind, Scutaro, and Barajas had what would be considered well above average months for their respected position
- Overbay is an interesting case. Although his average is down, he is hitting for power and getting on base
- Wells had an average month. This is good news considering he normally starts off very slow
- Rolen had a good month. His OPS is down because of the lack extra-base hits he has
- Snider is doing well considering he is very much a "raw" rookie
- Bautista and Millar are mashing!
- Rios had an awful month
- All is all - a great month for the Jays offence

Offensive Stats Through April 22nd

Starters:

Name/Batting Average/OBP/OPS
Marco Scutaro/.262/.410/.935
Aaron Hill/.370/.397/.1028
Alex Rios/.246/.303/.636
Vernon Wells/.258/.333/.742
Adam Lind/.349/.414/.970
Scott Rolen/.291/.355/.791
Lyle Overbay/.333/.467/.1.078
Rod Barajas/.233/.261/.703
Travis Snider/.286/.342/.1.028

Bench

Jose Baustista/.344/.417/.854
Kevin Millar/.321/.367/.902
Jon Macdonald/.333/.333/.667
Michael Barrett/.167/.211/.544
Raul Chavez/.333/.333/.667

My Thoughts

- Well it is easy to see who has been hot and who hasn't
- I am in love with Overbay's number right now. I was not expecting this sort of start from him. Not playing him against lefties is such a great idea. Good job Cito
- Aaron Hill is a monster right now, and Lind continues to bash
- Bautista and Millar have been excellent coming off the bench. I understand that not playing Snider full time in not the "sexy" choice among our younger fans, but it is clearly the right thing to do
- The one great thing I notice about these stats is that we all know that Rios and Wells WILL get better...

*I included OPS because it is the best stat to prove production

.950plus = elite among baseball
.800 - .949 = All-Star season
.675 - .799 = good depending on position
.600 - .674 = acceptable for shortstops/second basemen and catchers
Below .599 - poor

Chicks Dig the Longball

I was thinking with all the power the likes of Aaron Hill and Marco Scutaro have been showing; who will lead this team in homeruns this season?

In my opinion Snider will struggle for a long period of time at one point in this season. He is just a rookie - Combine that with the fact that he will receive limited at-bats vs. left handed pitchers. I see him finishing the season with 15-19 homeruns. I know those comments will ruffle some feathers because he is the sexy choice amongst young Jays fans, but we have to be careful with Snider. He is a big part of our team moving forward.

Adam Lind is the wild-card regarding homeruns - This kid is very strong and when he makes contact he hits bombs. I can see him hitting 20-22 homeruns.

Hopefully Rolen and Overbay can hit in the 14-18 homerun range. Anything higher then that will be a real bonus. I am not going to guess how many Hill may hit because honestly I think his range is from 5-25.

However the million dollar man Vernon Wells is the likely favorite to lead this team in homeruns (probably the 25-30 range if he stays healthy), while Rios is proving himself to be a non-factor.

The Snider Dilemma

Many posters and bloggers are barking at Cito's decision not start Snider against left handed pitchers. Here is my opinion - Take if for it what is worth...

Cito is 100% correct by not starting Snider against lefties.

Trust me, I have my issues with Cito(the way he handles his starting pitchers), but this is not one of them.

Snider is a rookie, and rookies need confidence. Snider is not going gain confidence by going 0-4 against lefties at this stage in his career. Let him continue to mash righties and slowly install him into situations where he will face southpaws.

This is so correct it's funny.

Oh and the Jays are 7-3 to start the season....

The Beej

Lot's of people are crapping on The Beej, but I for one thought his outing was a positive. A matter a fact he was one of the many positives that came out last nights comeback win. Also, lets get serious here, at least he is not Brandon Lyon.

IMO game 2 positives are;

1) The offence coming back - That is quite obvious.
2) Purcey pitched a great game - That is quite obvious.
3) Aaron Hill and Scott Rolen - The more confidence these guys get the better.
4) BJ Ryan - Besides one pitch he looked very good. The radar had him at 88mph, which is a GREAT sign.

Opening Day is Over-rated in Toronto

Well folks - It's that time of the year again. The time when every team has hope, and a time when every team has the same record. Opening Day! A day when every team is in first place and has dreams of the post-season.

Ok enough of that crap.

I don't have season tickets, never have, and likely never will. I still manage to get to 15-20 games per season, and I am happy with that. However I will never go to the home opener at Rogers Centre, never.

Sure the home opener is the one game we sell out, and the one game when the majority of fans in the centre are under the age of 40, but it just doesn't have appeal to me as it does to most Torontonians.

Lets get serious here; 85% of the people that went to yesterday's game will not go to another game this season. They aren't the hardcore's like you and I, and last night they proved me right again. Look, I am all for having a good time, but when it almost costs the Jays a win that pisses me off, not to mention it makes our city look bad.

You don't go to ballgame and throw crap on the field -- esp. when your team is on the verge of winning a game. Jim Leyland was correct when he took his players off the field, and it really pissed me off how Cito had to apologize to Leyland on behalf of the Toronto "fan."

I just want to say one thing to each and every person who threw something on the field last night....

Go f%$k yourself.

Oh and the Jays won 12-5.

Viva Italia - WBC Update

Canada lost to Italy 6-2 in a game that was anything but exciting.

Justin Morneau had a great game at the dish and Bay was solid, but nothing after that. Pete Orr had a hilariously bad World Baseball Classic.

Call me sappy, but I wanted to see Corey Koskie get a plate appearence in a meaniingful game.

However let's get serious here; No Francis, No Harden, No Bedard, No Dempster = No chance..... not that the bats helped much.

Spring-Time!

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen - It's been a long time!

Spring training has arrived and some very interesting developments have already occurred in Jays land.

Our million dollar man Vernon Wells has hurt his hamstring again. I think it's pretty safe the say that the good Verno's days in CF are numbered. Wells has lost a little step out there (but he is still great mind you), so Rios should be taking over. Add in the fact that Vernon hits more like a corner outfielder then Alex does. However we all know that won't happen quite yet.

Matt Clement is apparently pitching with no pain, while our good friend Mike Morath is determined to pitch through leg ailments all season. Scotty Downs experienced a set back, while Aaron Hill seems to have fully recovered for concussion like symptoms.

Through 9 Spring Training games the Jays are a respectable 5-4, and as we speak are ahead of the Yankees 5-2 moving into the bottom of the 7th.

Some players who have been performing well at the dish so far include; Russ Adams, Jose Bautista, Brad Emaus, Jason Lane, Scott Rolen (good sign!!), Kevin Millar, and Travis Snider (good sign!!).

In other news - Canada lost a heart-breaker to the USA in their first game of the World Baseball Classic 6-5. The Toronto crowd was amazing. I have heard nothing but good things from people who attended the game. This makes me both proud and a little annoyed. Proud for obvious reasons, but a little annoyed because - where are these fans for Jays games!!

Anyways - I am looking forward to opening day. It should be an interesting season in Jays land.

Sleepy Times - News and Notes

Sorry for the lack of posts, but frankly there just hasn't been a heck of a lot of exciting stuff to blog about in Jays land.

Of course the major news in the baseball world is that A-Rod admitted to steroid use, but since that doesn't have much impact on the Jays I decided to ignore it. Unfortunately I have taken the stance that the majority of ball players have experimented with performance enhancing drugs. However I believe it is being done out of necessity. If player X has an edge, then player Y needs that same boost to keep his career moving forward. Basically a domino effect.

Back to the Jays - Toronto's most recent acquisition is that of a player by the name of Matt Bush. Apparently Bush was the 1st overall pick in the 2004 draft (who knew!), but couldn't hit a lick in the minors, which subsequently lead to a failed attempted to turn him into a pitcher. Anyways - he is now in the Jays organization.

The Jays remain the only team not to sign a free-agent to a major league contract this off-season. There are still rumblings of Kevin Millar coming to the Jays, but that again would likely be a minor league signing with an invitation to Spring Training.

In more interesting news former Jays star Roberto Alomar's ex-girlfriend is claiming that Alomar has "full blown AIDS." Here is a link to the my source: http://blogs.usatoday.com/gameon/2009/02/lawsuit-claims.html

"Ilya Dall, the former girlfriend of baseball star Roberto Alomar, claims in a lawsuit that Alomar has full-blown AIDS. Dall, 32, lived with Alomar for three years. The infielder played 17 seasons and had stints with seven teams including the Mets, Baltimore, Toronto and Cleveland. (Photo by Winslow Townson, AP)This from the New York Daily News"

For all of those of us who grew up during the glory years, Mr. Alomar is one of the all-time great Jays and was a extreme fan favorite while playing in Toronto. I am going to hold my opinion to myself until we get more information on these allegations. Hopefully everything works out for all those involved in this situation.

All in all - This has to be the most boring off-season in Jays history.

Putting the Pieces Together

Just briefly - The Jays avoided arbitration with Accardo, Bautista, and Frasor by signing them all to one year deals.

From the Globe and Mail;

The Toronto Blue Jays have avoided arbitration with three more of their players after coming to terms with pitchers Jason Frasor and Jeremy Accardo and infielder Jose Bautista for the 2009 season. Frasor, 31, has agreed to terms on a $1.45-million (all currency U.S.) after posting a 1-2 record in 2008 with a 4.18 earned-run average. Bautista, 28, who was acquired by the Blue Jays on Aug. 21 in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, has agreed to terms on a deal that will pay him $2.4-million. Bautista appeared in 128 games with Toronto and Pittsburgh, hitting 15 home runs with 54 RBI. Accardo, who will earn $900,000 this season.

If it hasn't sunk in yet, it should. The Jays with minor exceptions will be fielding the same team as 2008.

FYI - Shawn Camp and Billy Tallet remain unsigned.

Jays Brass Faces Season Ticket Holders

An interesting meeting happened in Jays land. Appearently it wasn't pretty...

Mr. Beeston and company met with season ticket holders on Tuesday to discuss the current state of the team, and short term plans moving forward.

A quote from The Star link = http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Baseball/article/574495 :

And in the night’s most dramatic moment, another demanded more honesty from Beeston, who began the night with brave talk of competing with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox only to later say how the team might take a step back in 2009. He drew roaring applause

Over the past few years JP and Godfrey have had the luxury of telling these folks that the team is prepared to increase payroll, but with the team set on a different direction for the upcoming 2009 season there was some explaining to do.

Some specific baseball talk included (again from The Star)

There was some baseball talk, with Ricciardi saying that Casey Janssen will be used as a starter as long as he shows during spring training that his surgically repaired right shoulder is up to the task.Only Roy Halladay, Jesse Litsch and David Purcey are sure things for the rotation.

Season ticket holders are vital to a teams future and they must be listened to in order to keep them around for future investments’. Depending on annual income of course buying season tickets is not a cheap investment.

Hopefully Beeston and the parent company do not take the concerns of season ticket holders lightly.

Princesses and Lollipops

For kicks and giggles I thought I would create a "Best Case Senerio" blog regarding our horrid offence. Remember this is if all the stars come together in a fairy and princess land.

The lineup is no particular order.

Name: Homeruns/RBI/BA/OPS

Hill 15/75/.290/.815
Scutaro 10/55/.290/.785
Rios 28/95/.315/.900
Wells 31/105/.301/.885
Rolen 21/80/.280/.840
Overbay 17/70/.280/.835
Barajas/Barrett 16/55/.265/.760
Lind 18/55/.275/.775

Snider 22/68/.275/.790

*I am living in dream world.